Mind Addiction
by OhTex
Summary: 'She had trusted him. Not because she wanted to, but because she had no choice...all she had was this faux-doctor.' Master/Fred OC


A/N: Hey everyone! I'm writing something other than Fred/Doctor fluff to bring you some drama-y Fred/Master goodness (with a few mentions of Fred/Doctor angst thrown in for good measure!)

**For all of you who haven't read any of my 'Mind' series, I would suggest you read some of that first (it's all listed in order on my profile) but if you think you can muddle through...go ahead, my lovelies!**

I hope you enjoy it...this is sort of an occasion piece for me as it's my birthday today! Yay! The day you get gifts for just being alive!

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><p><span>Mind Addiction<span>

"_Who are you?" She'd asked when her eyes flickered open and she felt the searing pain in her stomach and a black grief in her heart._

"_I'm here to help." He'd said. "I'm here to heal you." And then he'd looked at her with those jet black eyes and added with intent, "Like a doctor."_

_Like a doctor. Like a doctor...but not quite. No doctor had ever worn an expression like that; no doctor had ever taken joy from pain and pain from joy. But she had trusted him. Not because she wanted to, but because she had no choice. She was all alone in this part of the universe. Her guide had abandoned her and left her for dead. This faux-doctor was all she had._

_And his identity couldn't stay hidden forever._

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><p>Wherever she went, Fred was aware of eyes on them.<p>

Whichever planet they went to, they were followed; whichever ship they landed on, they were watched. All security cameras moved after them.

And after three weeks, Fred had begun to feel like she should really find out why.

So she tried to ask him, tried to work it out of him but he wasn't budging. He just brushed her off, saying that it didn't matter, that she wouldn't understand. It was centuries ago and light years away.

Fred began to get tired of speaking to the back of his white blonde head...

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><p>But that all changed three weeks and three days into their companionship as they were walking through the streets of Hesiner, a trade planet so bustling, Fred couldn't get near the shops and stalls along the street. All of the shop owners were on their guard and it was infuriating <em>him<em>. He walked a little in front of her, as usual, his hands occasionally balling into fists as he glared at one civilian to the next. Fred didn't understand what they were all looking it; they'd only just arrived and passed through the scanners that kept checks on all those entering the trading areas. He hadn't even insulted anyone. Not yet, at least. There was still time.

Fred jogged a few steps to catch up with him and slide her arm through his. He tensed but didn't pull away. He wasn't like the Doctor; he didn't enjoy being close to people.

The further on they walked over the hot, stone streets, the more people stopped and watched them go by. Their stares were starting to burn.

He stopped. "What?" He called. "What are you all looking at? _WHAT?_"

There was nothing but silence. Fred watched as aliens of all races were still glaring, distrustful and angry.

"What have we done?" Fred asked them, trying to calm the Master with a hand on his back. "Why are you so suspicious?"

"We know what you are." One of the stall owners said quietly, looking at him.

"What I am?"

"A Time Lord."

"What's wrong with being a Time Lord?" Fred asked, feeling offended on behalf of her companion.

"We do not have a problem with you, human." Another alien said, clicking its teeth angrily. "It is the Time Lord we take issue with."

He laughed loudly, seemingly a little more relaxed now there was a confrontation brewing. Fred knew that he was always more at ease with anger. "Oh, please tell me, what have I done now?" He added as a side note to Fred, "I might have been here before and killed a few people. Probably deserved it, but you never know."

"We know what you are." The stall owner repeated. "You are the rogue Time Lord. The one called the Master."

"And how would you know that?" His eyes blazed nearly as bright as his white blonde hair in the hot sun.

"There are only two Time Lords alive. We have met the Doctor and you are not him. The Doctor is kind. You are not."

He laughed again but all Fred could feel was a painful blackness in her stomach. She always felt like this when the Doctor is mentioned. She didn't want to think of him, she didn't want to remember the time they spent together in the TARDIS. Those memories of the Doctor were so warm and lovely; they didn't fit in with the side she'd seen of him when he had left her alone to die.

But then she found him. And he had saved her. An unlikely hero but her hero nonetheless.

"He is not kind." Fred said sharply. "I have seen his so called _kindness_ and it nearly killed me." She glared at the all, her nose high in the air. "So, we'll be taking our trade elsewhere."

She marched back along the street to the little hotel they had booked to stay in and, for once, _he_ was following _her_. It felt good. He seized her arm just before she reached the hotel's entrance.

"What was that?" He growled lowly.

She scowled. He was unreadable, _unfathomable._ "I was saving both of our arses. In case you hadn't noticed, there are a hell of a lot more of them than there are us. Whoever the hell we are."

He fixed her with a black stare before seemingly deciding that he should tell her a little more than he had so far and lead her into the hotel, his role at the front resumed.

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><p>"Sit down." He instructed, pointing to the soft double bed. "I'll tell more about myself."<p>

"Oh, at last!" Fred grumbled, helping herself to the wine in the mini-bar. "I don't even know what to call you."

"The Master." He replied smoothly. "Call me the Master."

Fred remained silent for a moment before she smirked slightly and repeated, "The Master? Are you serious? The Master of what?"

The Master gave her a grin that showed his teeth. "I'm not the Master of anything..." He left pause in which he obviously added, in his head, _yet._ "Just like the Doctor isn't anyone's doctor."

Fred shifted, uncomfortable with the subject, and swigged more wine. "So is that like a Time Lord thing? The whole..."The" thing?"

"That doesn't matter. Names are not important. We all have so many."

"Then why didn't you tell me yours straight away?"

"Because I was afraid the Doctor would have already told you about me. He and I...we're not the best of friends."

That knocked Fred a little and only raised more questions. Why would the Doctor talk about him? Were they enemies? And if the Doctor had something bad to say about the Master, should she be worried? But, she reasoned, the Doctor hadn't turned out to be the person she thought he was when he left her for dead so did his opinion really matter at all?

Fred titled her head and looked at Master properly. Hang on...hadn't she seen him somewhere before? Something about a smile and white blonde hair...hadn't she dreamt of him when she was on the TARDIS with the Doctor? But how could she dream of somebody she had never seen before?

"You have questions." The Master stated.

That was a bloody understatement. She just had to pick the most important ones. "Why did you help me?"

"Why not? The Doctor left you for dead and I thought I'd do the chivalrous thing and rescue you. Good job I did."

"Ok...and why did that stall owner call you 'the rogue Time Lord'?"

The Master paused longer at this question, giving it some thought. Evidently he was choosing what to tell her and what to keep secret. "I have done some..._radical_ things in my past. Some things that weren't too popular with the other Time Lords. Safe to say, I wasn't really a good boy like the Doctor."

"Oh."

And then Fred couldn't think of anything more to ask him. Later, she would realise that there was so much more she should have asked, should have _demanded_ in fact but she didn't. At the time, to go from knowing nothing to knowing some of his history and his name, it felt like she had found out so much.

So she just smiled and nodded when he asked her if she wanted some food, if she wanted another drink and if she wanted another Time Lord in her life.

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><p>That night, as she lay in bed next to him for the first time, naked and spent, Fred thought that Time Lords might be a drug.<p>

And she was their biggest addict.

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><p><em>I know it was only little but I was dying to write some FredMaster!_

_And you know the drill...please leave a review. It's my birthday after all!_


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